Ex-UCI Patient Seeks to Meet Twins Born to Someone Else

In yet another controversy springing from the UC Irvine fertility scandal, a former patient of Dr. Richardo H. Asch is seeking to establish a relationship with 6-year-old twins who she believes were conceived with her eggs but born to another couple, the woman’s attorney said Sunday.

Jane A. Gorman, attorney for Loretta Jorge of Corona, said she sent a letter to the twins’ birth parents last week, indicating that Jorge and her husband, Basilio, would like to meet them “to discuss what beginning contact [they] would feel is appropriate for the children.”

“We sent the letter on Friday and gave [the couple] until Feb. 27 to respond,” said Gorman, who works in Tustin and specializes in adoption cases.

“If they don’t respond with something we can marginally live with, we’re going to move forward with litigation to have her declared the legal mother and seek a contact order,” Gorman said. “I honestly can’t think of any other way we can go about this.”

The letter asks the birth parents to submit the twins to genetic testing. Basilio Jorge believes he may be the biological father of the twins, Gorman said, but there is no proof.

Records do indicate, however, that some of Loretta Jorge’s eggs were given to the birth parents without her client’s consent, the attorney said.

“We would certainly like to have blood tests, but the evidence from UCI is absolutely clear that the children are a product of Loretta’s eggs,” Gorman said.

The Jorges were in Las Vegas on Sunday and could not be reached for comment.

Gorman would not disclose the identity of the twins’ birth parents, citing the need to protect the children’s privacy.

She said her clients are particularly anxious to get acquainted with the children--a boy and a girl--because they live close to them.

“That’s what’s made it so hard,” Gorman said. “Loretta told me that she knows her children eventually are going to know the story of their genesis and find out who their biological mother is.

“She doesn’t want them to think she never tried to see them, especially since they live in the same neighborhood.”

Gorman said Loretta Jorge is not seeking custody of the twins at this point, although there is a “part of her” that wants to raise the children. The attorney said a custody battle would likely favor the birth parents because the children have always lived with them.

“Loretta is happy that she found her children, but she’s pretty sad because she’s not raising them,” Gorman said. “The whole situation is horrible for everybody. It’s a nightmare.”

Gorman said her clients, who are Catholic and of Filipino ancestry, have long been pressured by their friends and relatives to have children. Loretta Jorge is a homemaker, and her husband is self-employed in the food industry.

Several years ago, the Jorges, both in their mid-30s, tried unsuccessfully to have children with fertility specialist Asch’s help at a UCI clinic in Garden Grove. Gorman said they spent $30,000 for fertility treatment. Loretta Jorge became pregnant but miscarried.

Asch and his colleagues at UCI are now the subject of several investigations into alleged misappropriation of eggs and embryos, insurance fraud, research misconduct and financial wrongdoing.

Dozens of former patients have sued Asch, UC Irvine, UC San Diego and the UC Board of Regents.

After learning several months ago that their eggs had been used to create the twins, the Jorges obtained the birth parents’ address a few weeks ago and had the children videotaped and photographed, Gorman said.

Aside from last week’s letter, however, the Jorges and Gorman have not spoken with the birth parents or their attorney.

In her letter, Gorman said the Jorges “know that in order to not disrupt the children’s lives unduly, they must proceed in ‘baby steps’ toward forming a relationship with them.”

“I am sincerely sorry for both of you, as well as my clients, but the fact remains that my clients love these children and want to see them very much,” the letter states.

If the Jorges decide to take legal action, Gorman said, her clients’ case would be the first of its kind in the United States.

“It’s similar legally to adoption cases,” she said, “but not ethically. It seems to me that the court has no choice but to declare my client the legal mother. But the other side can say that these are the only parents these children have ever known.”